You're my handcuffs and I'm your prisoner.

What an odd title for a blog?
"You're my handcuffs and I'm your prisoner."

Look at my shirt. Can you see the stripes? Do you know that stripes were once used for prisoners?

Well there's one thing you can be sure of and it's that I'm not a criminal but I'm more so aiming at how we can be prisoners in our own selves and in our own minds. The handcuffs represents 'our thoughts'. Because our thoughts are what keeps us captive. Those negative thoughts. Negative thinking is what causes us to look for what is wrong to protect ourselves against danger. It is quite a dangerous strategy because it can lead us into depression. The longer we think this way, eventually it will become our reality. How do we overcome this way of thinking? Here are some ways: 

• Be grateful - Instead of looking at what you don't have or haven't accomplished yet, look at what you have right here and right now. 
• Talk to someone - Being alone is probably not the best way to be when you are constantly thinking negative. Sometimes it does help to talk to someone, get a fresh perspective. 
• Think of the positive - It may seem too far fetch when you're in a different headspace but thinking positive, will help lesson the blow of what is going on. 
• You can't control everything - Whether you are willing to accept it or not, there are things that will happen in life that's out of your control that you can't stop but it's not the end of the world, there's always a way to deal, a way that won't lead you in a downward spiral. 
• Breathing - Take a moment to calm down. Let your mind settle. Take a couple of minutes to focus on breathing. 
• Be YOU - Learn to love you and embrace the delightful person you are. The more you see just how wonderful it is to know YOU and love YOU, the more you see that you have created a barrier in your mind to block out the negative thoughts about yourself.

Our thoughts are what controls us. If we start thinking less of ourselves, we will in reality, see ourselves worthless. If we replace those thoughts with praise and gratitude, we will begin to see ourselves and others in a different light. If we start our morning thinking about our problems, then we have already set the mood for the rest of the day.

So will you remain a prisoner?


- Corina Jane